Dear friends,

Spring things

I woke up this morning and realized how long it’s been since I’ve put out an update. I think that reflects the busy Spring semester we’ve been in and for the most part that’s a good thing as God continues to open doors for us to be able to share about Ethnos360 around the state of Texas and here at Texas A&M. But we recognize how important you guys are to our team, and so we want to reconnect with you all and most importantly THANK YOU for your continued prayers and support for us.

Just a few quick highlights from the semester:

Attending missions conferences at LeTourneau University (January) and Dallas Theological Seminar (March), along with other sharing opportunities to share around the state.

Helping to facilitate the Spring Perspectives class here in Bryan/College Station, as well as continued work on the national Perspectives “Next Steps” Network leadership team. I was also able to teach my first full Perspectives class in February.

Hosted two “Into the Buddhist Mind” presentations here in town taught by one of our former missionaries to Thailand (pic above).

Dozens of meetings with students, ministry leaders, pastors, and others interested in missions, Ethnos360, the nations, tribal animism, etc.

Coordinating our national “rep” team that serves across the USA

It’s been a full, but fruitful few months and we are grateful for the doors God has opened for us! Please pray for the students that we connect with, that God will lead them as they step out in obedience to fulfill the Great Commission!

Ring Things

We’re excited to welcome Braden Voss into the family as he marries Cara on June 18. There’s lots of excitement around here in regard to that event. AND, not to be outdone by her sister, Katie also got engaged in March to Coby Clark. They plan to marry in January 2024! We’re thrilled to add these young men to our family and excited to see how God will use both of these couples in the years to come! Thank you for your prayers for them as they begin their lives together!

MK Things

Another ministry opportunity God has given us has been to help start an MK (“missionary kid”) network here at Texas A&M. For many MK’s, coming to such a large university is daunting. The USA is a foreign country, and Texas is just plain weird! Having a network of MK’s who can find community with one another has been a real help in that process of transition to life in the USA. It is interesting that even MK’s who have grown up in very different countries have a very similar experience with one another as they share their stories.

We have worked with a national organization called MuKappa (mukappa.org), which has a presence on many campuses around the country, to start a chapter here at Texas A&M and help our group have some visibility to incoming students who might be interested in joining our community. We look forward to doing more with this great group of students in the fall!

Praying Things

One of the disciplines that we like to encourage students to practice is the habit of Prayer for the Nations. Recently, my co-worker Drew challenged a group of students to pray about a criminal gang in Papua New Guinea that for the past year has been terrorizing villages in a certain region of PNG and, in particular, one of our churches where missionaries no longer live permanently. Police presence in these areas is little to non-existent, so the church has been throwing themselves completely on the Lord as many unspeakable crimes have happened to the believers there.

A few days after praying (and of course many, many believers around the world have been praying for this situation for months), we received this report from one of the missionaries. “The gang leader has had a change of heart: ‘We’re stopping everything we were doing. If anyone among us continues to do those things I’ll kill them myself. We’re no longer upset with the M community [where the church is]. We know that we were the ones who did the wrong….WE WANT TO HEAR THE TEACHING ABOUT GOD’S WORD.’ ”

Of course, not only was this incredible news for the church there in PNG, but it was a tremendous encouragement to our students here that God listens when we pray! Please continue to pray for this situation that God will continue to change the hearts of these men as they turn from their brutal ways to hear the Word of the Lord.

Continue to pray for more laborers to be raised up in Texas and around the world who can join in the abundant harvest taking place among the nations. Pray for us as we mobilize students and others to that end! Thank you for the role you play in being part of our team!

We are grateful for you!

Neil and Becky Burleson